The txotx season atmosphere has returned to Hernani “as if nothing had happened”. Since the cider house season got under way a month and a half ago, the flow of visitors, many of them from Navarre, has returned to pre-pandemic levels. With no trace of restrictions, as many as 244 coaches from all over the Basque Country and beyond have arrived in this Buruntzaldea town, where it is practically impossible to get a lunch booking until the end of April. As a result, the streets of the old town are once again full of groups of friends every weekend, although, so far, without any serious incidents.

Although the txotx season is only halfway through and the “busiest” Saturdays and Sundays are still to come, Hernani Town Council expects visitor numbers this year to match those of 2019. This is confirmed by the arrival figures it already has, and borne out by a simple glance at the streets of the town centre every weekend. “Everything is just like before, full of coaches and people. It has all come back to life and there isn’t a single lunchtime when it isn’t packed”, Isabel Casco, president of the Kaxko elkartea association, told this newspaper.